We often talk about the fact that our cheese is an expression of our pastures and our cows, but truthfully, it’s also an expression of the people who work here. Even small, family-run operations like ours require helping hands, and we’re lucky to have a group of loyal, skilled people working with us. Our cheese wouldn’t be the same without them.
Many of our employees have been with us for years, but because our work is heavily skewed towards the spring, summer and fall months, when we’re milking and making cheese, every year we hire seasonal help. These 6-8 month jobs can be a great chance for someone to learn about an operation like ours, and it’s a great chance for us to get to know a new employee. Nearly all of our permanent, year-round employees started off in a seasonal job.
The paragraphs below give a general description of some of the work done on the farm or in the creamery, but we encourage anyone interested in learning more to contact us at office@uplandscheese.com or 608-935-5558. We always enjoy meeting people who share our interests.
Farm
We milk our cows from late March, when the herd begins calving, through Christmas, when we dry off the entire herd. The spring months are full of long days — handling the fresh cows, taking care of the calves and setting up the farm for another season of grazing. By July, once the calves have been weaned and we’re done breeding for the following year, we settle into the summer rhythm of grazing and milking. By the fall harvest, we finish bringing in the winter’s worth of feed and start feeding hay to the milking herd. As the days get shorter and the cows switch their diet entirely to stored feed, cheesemaking stops and we wind down into the holidays and dry-off.
Our farm employees help Scott with all aspects of running the farm – milking, feeding, driving tractors and moving cows through the pastures. We have several year-round people working on the farm, and we occasionally bring on a seasonal apprentice through the Grazing Apprenticeship Program. If you’re interested in learning more about farm work, please contact Scott, in English or in Spanish, at dsmericka@gmail.com or 608-553-1212.
Creamery
Even more than the farm, the creamery depends on seasonal employees. The ripening rooms, which begin May half-empty, fill with a new batch every day until Halloween, when we’re bursting at the seams and stop for the season. All of this cheese needs to be tended, and so our labor demands grow throughout the season. Each May we hire a few people for the entire six-month season, and in September we bring on another person or two to help us make Rush Creek.
What sounds like a challenge is actually a great opportunity for our business, because every year we have an influx of new people and their ideas and perspectives. Many of these people have gone on to become year-round employees, but even those who stay for only a few months contribute a great deal.
We have had successful stints from students, cheesemongers, chefs, and people looking for a mid-career change. In exchange for hard work, we offer good wages and a chance to experience first-hand a farmstead cheese operation.
Enthusiasm trumps experience when it comes to ripening cheese, and we work closely with new hires to ensure continuity and quality. If you’re curious about working here, please contact Andy at office@uplandscheese.com or 608-935-5558, and arrange to come work a trial shift.